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Document Details : Title: Voorbij de angst Subtitle: Economische crisis en de emergentie van toekomst Author(s): VERSTRAETEN, Johan Journal: Tijdschrift voor Theologie Volume: 52 Issue: 1 Date: 2012 Pages: 6-18 DOI: 10.2143/TVT.52.1.3203338 Abstract : On October 24, 2011, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace published a concise but challenging document: Towards Reforming the International Financial and Monetary Systems in the Context of Global Public Authority. This document is not primarily original for its analysis and concrete proposals, nor does it pay sufficient attention to the problem of anxiety, which is the heart of the crisis. It is inspiring because of its reference to the thesis of Pope Paul VI about the need for a ‘forward looking imagination’ which enables us to discover in the social reality unnoticed possibilities for the future, for strengthening the social dynamics of society and for creating a climate of trust in the capacity of the human spirit and heart to innovate (Octogesima adveniens 37). The implications of this vision are articulated in the light of two paradigmatic frameworks of interpretation which have attempted to explain how the emergence of a meaningful future becomes possible: Otto Scharmer’s Theory U and John Paul Lederach’s Moral Imagination. Starting from a summary of their principal ideas, this article demonstrates that it is not adequate to interpret the actual economic crisis as a series of problems that need to be solved, but as a phenomenon that is part of a complex field of human interaction that can be understood as the point of departure for the realization of the highest possible future possibilities. That requires, however, a radically different way of observing and acting, based on, among other things, individual and collective stillness (Sharmer) or paradoxical curiosity and serendipity (Lederach). From these insights conclusions can be drawn, not only for a fundamental rethinking of economic practice (and this not only from the perspective of decision making leaders but also from the perspective of the poor who are excluded from participation in decision making), but also for a reinterpretation of the role of churches and Christian communities with regard to their participation in the creation of a new future beyond anxiety. Building communities in which people develop a new relationship to one another in being related to scarce goods is one of the suggestions. |
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